Commitment - Offer the Lowest Fare

Northwest's telephone Reservations Agents, airport Customer Service Agents, and City Ticket Office agents will respond with the lowest published fare when given a specific flight/date/time. Northwest has in place computer systems (Powershopper domestic and Price Lowest Fare domestic and international) which are used to determine the best price for a given itinerary..

General Travel Requests

When given a range of travel dates, times, flights or cities, Northwest Reservations Agents, airport Customer Service Agents, and City Ticket Office agents respond with the lowest published fare from the fare display. For example, agents will advise, "We have roundtrip fares as low as $77 in the Chicago-Minneapolis market and depending on your choice of day, time, airport, and availability of seats on the aircraft, I can find the lowest price for your itinerary."

Northwest trains agents to look at fare displays before choosing particular flights to price. Training covers reading fare displays effectively, so that the customer who asks "How do I get that $77 fare?" will be quickly advised of the requirements and availability of seats at that price.

Note: There may be lower fares available through other distribution channels such as Northwest CyberSaver fares on Northwest's web site, at the time the telephone fare is quoted. Airport and City Ticket Office agents will advise customers that lower fares may be available on Northwest's web site in fare quotes.

• Northwest conducted 2-hour classroom training sessions for all Reservations agents and supervisors to discuss the Customers First initiative. Agents learned about the company's action plan and the initiatives specific to Reservations.
• Northwest updated the Reservations Agent new hire training manual to emphasize LOWEST fare quote on all lines of business.
• Northwest Reservations conducted an awareness campaign through memos, handouts, posters and incentives to reinforce the new Customers First concepts.

Measurement

• Northwest Airlines uses both existing internal and new external audits to track Reservation Agents' compliance with the Customers First initiatives.

Internal Audit: Each month, Northwest coaching supervisors listen to each Reservations Agent to assess the quality and accuracy of their interaction with customers. To facilitate the call review, the supervisors use a standard "Call Review Form." Following each monthly call review cycle, the supervisor holds a one-on-one coaching session with each agent. The calls are discussed and agents are coached for improvement.

When the Customers First initiatives were implemented, Northwest amended the Call Review Form to incorporate the specific Customers First elements and trained the supervisors to listen for the Customers First areas on every call review. The results are reviewed monthly and training/coaching adjusted accordingly.

External Audit: Northwest contracts a third party to place "mystery calls" to our five Reservations centers to test DOT mandates and other issues of compliance. We will expand this service to include 100 calls per center per quarter (500 calls/quarter) to test Customers First compliance and adjust training/coaching accordingly.

Commitment #2: Notification of Known Delays, Cancellations and Diversions